Applying corporate social responsibility principles to the church : a case study of the interface between the Indian Pentecostal/Charimatic Church in the Phoenix Community, Durban North (KwaZulu Natal) and social responsibility

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa is a country in transition, and continues to develop new systemsexpected to positively shift the social and economic lives of 48 million people.Every sector of society is focussed on people's upliftment. Corporations in SouthAfrica have Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes as their contributiontoward this goal.The Pentecostal/Charismatic Church is the fastest growing Christiandenomination in the world, certainly even in Africa. Churches' also have aresponsibility to society's upliftment, and since the Pentecostal/Charismaticchurch aspires to corporate principles this thesis explores the response of theIndian Pentecostal/Charismatic Church to social, economic and environmentalissues of local and global magnitude. The theoretical framework proposes that atheology for social change in South Africa must be traced from the foundation ofa theology of liberation from racial oppression, which is found in the KairosDocument; and combines this with CSI principles to present a compositeframework for analysis.The study uses qualitative methodologies of loosely structured interviews and afocus group discussion with Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors from the Phoenixcommunity, north of Durban. The findings suggest that the IndianPentecostal/Charismatic Church i) has divergent viewpoints on what constitutessocial responsibility, ii) does not have a set of guiding principles for funding socialprogrammes, and iii) does not have a discernable liberation theology, which is areal challenge facing the Church as this study argues that is a core reason for theChurches' inability to deal with social justice or sustainability issues effectively.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University